The Magic at the Harry Potter Studios, London

  In case you didn't already realize, I am absolutely rubbish with timelines on my blog.

In light of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I've decided to blog about my trip to the Harry Potter Studios in September last year :P (btw the movie was excellent and it feels so good to be alive at a time where JK Rowling is further exploring that amazing world again! further expansion!!)

The Harry Potter studios is located 20 miles north-west of London in Leavesden. My friend Wendy and her husband dropped us by car there after visiting Bicester Village earlier that morning.

We spent the entire afternoon there (which I still personally didn't feel was sufficient time!)

I remember getting the Complete Studio Package Tour for Adults at £44.95 which consisted of an entrance ticket, Digital Guide and a Paperback Souvenir Guidebook. *where my Geekdom at?

I remember being really crazy excited because I am an absolute Potterhead. I went with my BF and my two friends from the UK who have both been there.

Beckie, Rae and I

This is Harry's closet bedroom which was at the area where we were queuing to enter

Upon entry, we found ourselves in a dark room where there were short videos to watch from the actors about the movies and studio. Then, the curtain is lifted and you can see the doors to the great hall. The door unveils to a real one where we could enter!

When the door opens, it leads you to the Great Hall of Hogwarts, where the students gather to eat and have assemblies!

The Great Hall is built to scale and is the exact location the Harry Potter movies were filmed. It is big enough to fill in the 4 rows of long tables for the four houses of Hogwarts. 

There were also displays of some of the costumes worn by the students, teachers (and principal) of Hogwarts.

After that, we walked into the studio where exhibited the many props, sets, costumes used in the films. 

The first area outside the great hall is a huge warehouse room where you can see the set for a number of sets including the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore’s office, the potion classroom, and more.

I had an amazing time exploring this part of the studio because everything was in such intricate detail. You can see that a lot of effort was put in the films to stay as true as they could to JK Rowling's books.

 Beds in the Gryffindor dormitory where Harry and Ron slept

The Common Room

 Beckie and I with the Mirror of Erised from the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone film

Scary scene from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film where Voldemort had a woman murdered (by his snake Nagini) at the Malfoy Manor

Here is the scene:

Inside Hagrid's Hut, with Fang!

In the Potions Class set! The cauldron stirrers were moving on their own- like magic :P

 For the scene where we found the real Alastor Moody hidden in his magical trunk

 Quidditch uniforms for the different houses of Hogwarts

 All aboard the Hogwarts Express with Harry and Ron!

 Wands

We were then led to another section of the set, which turned out to be the Hogwarts Express! This section was pretty new, being officially opened in March 2015.

From the WB Studio Tour Website:

In March 2015, we unveilled a 20,000ft² expansion, including the original Hogwarts Express steam engine and a recreation of Platform 9 ¾. The new, permanent section offers a glimpse into how some of the films’ most iconic scenes were created as well as giving you the chance to climb aboard the train’s carriage and to pose with a luggage trolley as it disappears through the platform wall. Opened officially on Thursday 19th March, the new, must-see section was built by many of the crew members who worked on the most successful film series of all time. Every inch of the platform’s glass roof, yellow brick walls and luggage racks, designed by Production Designer Stuart Craig, has been painstakingly reassembled by a team led by Construction Manager Paul Hayes and dressed by Set Decorator Rosie Goodwin. Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson has rigged the locomotive with special effects steam.

source: here

There was also a souvenir shop where you could buy candy/chocolates like in the books and films as well as other memorabilia like wands, notebooks and mugs.

I bought this and we had a hell of a time eating them, especially because they had really rotten taste ones like rotten egg :X

The website promises that "You're now able to: • Pose with a luggage trolley on Platform 9 ¾ as it disappears through the station’s yellow brick wall and walk along the Hogwarts Express’ adjoining carriage":

• Explore the interior carriage set that was used during filming (complete with ‘windows’ that demonstrate the process used to create iconic train scenes from the films such as the escape of Harry’s first Chocolate Frog and the Dementor attack):

We got witness a Dementor attack from the window :P

After leaving the train hall, we entered a Backlot Cafe where we could have a seat and have.... butterbeer!!

I don't remember what it was but I bought one in the mug, which I kept.

The butterbeer tasted like caramel was very sweet. Don't be misled by the word 'beer', it is 0% alcohol and is kid-friendly :)

After the cafe, we walked outside and there were more displays outside, such as the famous wooden bridge, the Knight bus, the Dursley's house on Privet Drive, and a model of the flying car.

We then entered the second building of the studios. The studio was huge!

This building contained character props such as Hargrid’s and Dobby’s head, character replicas and more.

What was super cool was that there was a Diagon Alley set inside!

Near the end of the tour, we found ourselves in a room where there was a model of the Hogwarts castle used in the films

After that, we spent our time in the shop getting memorabilia, such as a t shirt, pens and other stuff. I really wish I could've gotten everything but things weren't cheap!

I would gladly go again if I could. It would be too awesome if they included the Fantastic Beasts set too some day!